Villains' Mooks
Members * Amazing Flyin' Hammer Bros. * Big Boos * Bill Blaster * Bloopers * Bob-ombs * Bony Beetles * Boos * Boomerang Bros. * Broozers * Bullet Bills * Bullies * Buzzy Beetles * Chain Chomps * Chargin' Chucks * Cheep-Cheeps * Chef Bros * Clubbas * Dr. Freezegoods * Dry Bones * Fat Guys * Fire Bros * Fly Guys * Goombas * Goomba Tower * Grand Goombas * Hammer Bros. * Ice Bros. * Koopa Paratroopas * Koopa Troopas * Koopa Strikers * Koopatrols * Lakitus * Magikoopas * Mecha-Koopas * Micro-Goombas * Monty Moles * Ninjies * Parabeetles * Parabuzzy * Paragoombas * Piranha Plants * Pokeys * Raven (partially) * Rexs * Rocky Wrenchs * Ruff Puffs * Shy Guys * Sledge Bros. * Spikes * Spike Tops * Spikeys * Spinies * Terrapins * Thwomps * Whomps * Waddle Dees * Bandanna Waddle Dee - Second-In-Command * Waddle Doo * Gordos * Poppy Bros Jr * Poppy Bros Sr * Cappy * Squishy * Kabu * Bomber * Bonkers * Mr. Frosty * Bugzzy * Tick-Tock Clock * Fire Lion * Grand Wheelie * Phan Phan * Whispy Woods * Lololo & Lalala * Kracko * Kabula * Paint Roller * Heavy Mole * Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright * BroBo * Orbservor * Meta-Knights * Meta Knight * TAC * Gnawty * Kaboing * Kaboom * Klaptrap * Rock Kroc * Krusha * Kackle * Kannon * Kasplat * Klampon * Klank * Klasp * Klinger * Kloak * Klobber * Klomp * Klubba * Klump * Knocka * Kobble * Koin * Koindozer * Kopter * Kosha * Kracka * Krash * Krimp * Kritter * Krockhead * Krook * Krumple * Kruncha * Krusha * Kuchuka * Kutlass * Manky Kong * Mini-Necky * Re-Koil * Tyrant Twins/Kuff 'n' Klout * Skidda * Badniks * Ball Hog * Bat Brain * Bomb * Burrobot * Chopper * Jaws * Moto Bug * Newtron * Orbinaut (Unidasu and Uni Uni) * Roller * Spikes * Splats (Scrapped) * Gooms Tropes * Action Bomb: Bob-ombs' main shtick. * A Day in the Limelight: Shy Guys are one of the less frequently occurring enemies, yet feature prominently in Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Story * Adorable Evil Minions: Koopa Troopas, Shy Guys, Bloopers, Waddle Dees and, in an Ugly Cute way, Goombas, Boos, and Dry Bones. * Affably Evil: Even though they serve the Koopa King, they bear hardly any animosity towards the heroes, and are overall friendly creatures. They're just doing their job out of loyalty to Bowser, and will gladly have parties and other get-togethers in the Mushroom Kingdom on their down time. Waddles Dees are also like this and their not really evil, more of just of a generic so-called evil mook. * Always Chaotic Evil: Averted. In spinoffs some are shown to have their own personality and there are even several good members of these species that don't live under Bowser's rule. Even the ones that do work for Bowser are strongly implied to be Punch Clock Villains. In Super Mario Odyssey, for example, every Koopa Troopa is a friendly NPC, despite Bowser being the villain as usual. * Angry Guard Dog: Chain Chomps were inspired by a childhood memory of Miyamoto's, where he was almost mauled by one of these but saved by a chain that was just too short. They seem to be the in-game equivalent of dogs. * Anthropomorphic Food: A consistent design trend with Goombas. Standard Goombas look like mushrooms, Galoombas look like chestnuts, and Goombrats look like persimmons. * Anthropomorphic Shift: Starting in Super Mario World, Koopa Troopas started walking on two feet and wearing shoes. * Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: In New Super Mario Bros., they're bipeds, but in Super Mario Galaxy, they're now back to being quadrupeds, but in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, they're bipeds again, and in Super Mario Galaxy 2, they're quadrupeds again, and in Super Mario 3D Land, they're bipeds again. * Art Evolution: Enemies will often change in appearance depending on the games. Skeeters in particular, as they've never been in two games with the same appearance. * Artifact Title: Tox Boxes looked like industrial metal boxes with spray-painted faces in Super Mario 64, gaining their name from "toxic" and "box". In Super Mario Galaxy, they're made of stone and resemble oni to make them more like Thwomps, but they retain the now-irrelevant name. * Badass Army: They may not appear like it, but they have conquered the Mushroom Kingdom multiple times, assaulted the Star Spirits, and kidnapped the local Crystal Dragon Jesus. In Dream Team, several members of the Koopa Troop don't appear as enemies until later in the game, but become the brunt of the enemies encountered afterwards. Including the Goombas. Eggman's Army is also filled with death traps but literally. Theirs even creatures based on piranhas and drills! King Dedede and K. Rool's goons are also somewhat threaten especially when we get to the bosses. * Bedsheet Ghost: Boos are white circular blobs, while Peepas look like actual sheets. * Berserk Button: Wigglers are friendly caterpillars, but if you jump on them, they'll become angry, turning red and moving much more quickly. This was originally due to the Wiggler's flowernote — in Super Mario World, bouncing on them would remove the flower, thereby setting their tempers off. Later titles apparently forgot the detail of the lost flowers, making the Hair-Trigger Temper a species trait. * Breath Weapon: Fire Bros. originally spat fireballs when they debuted in Super Mario Bros. 3, though later they were shown to throw them like Fire Mario does. * Breakout Mook Character: A Piranha Plant - of all things - somehow managed to make it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC character. Notably, it's the only generic mook from any Nintendo series to get this treatment. It return again as a playable character in Mario Tennis Aces as a fire variant. * Butt-Monkey: In some games, Waddle Dees are ones who commonly get into trouble. For example, in Epic Yarn, a Waddle Dee gets destroyed during Hot Wings' pre-boss cutscene. And in Triple Deluxe, they always end up in trouble in Hypernova sections, where they either end up having their homes destroyed or get sucked up along with piles of rocks. * Canon Immigrant: All the enemies that originated in Doki Doki Panic made their Mario series debut in Super Mario Bros. 2, as the game was reskinned (with Clawgrip being the only additional enemy). Nonetheless, they fit in well. This is mostly due to Miyamoto having been the lead designer of the game, and supposedly had more involvement in it than The Lost Levels. Granted, Doki Doki Panic was built off of a shelved Mario-like prototype. * Can't Move While Being Watched: In platformers, Boos will cover their faces and freeze in place when the Mario Bros. are facing towards them. * Composite Character: Well more like composite army and this mostly applies to Dedede's army but in the Chubby, Short, Hungry Aliens Free-For-All, they used Dedede's minions from all the Kirby games, Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives in Pupupu and Kirby Right Back At Ya. * Cool Airship: They sometimes ride in these, which are essentially pirate ships held up by propellers in the air. * Dem Bones: The Dry Bones, Bony Beetles, and Fish Bones. * The Determinator: Goombas, according to Mario Party 9. * Drop the Hammer: Hammer Bros. fight by tossing their hammers. There are numerous variations of Hammer Bros. that all use different weapons, such as Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., Ice Bros., Sledge Bros. and even rarer kinds like Yo Bros. and Chomp Bros. * Elite Mooks: The Hammer Bros., Lakitus, Magikoopas, Chargin' Chucks, Poppy Bros, Klumps and other bigger and badder minions. * Epic Flail: Being already a very heavy sphere on the end of a chain, a Chain Chomp can be wielded this way. Bowser does so in Super Mario RPG and, more inexplicably, it's the final weapon unlock in Bayonetta 2. It's also unlockable as a weapon for Link in Hyrule Warriors, used with the level 3 version of the Gauntlets. * Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods: Octoombas, alien and vaguely cephalopodic Goombas. * Evil Counterpart Race: The Goombas to the Toads, though some spinoffs like the Paper Mario games have good Goombas. Waddle Dees are also this to the Kirby series but more identical. * Expressive Mask: ** Bandits may dress like Shy Guys, but their masks are capable of expressing a wider range of emotions. Their default is a good old fashioned Psychotic Smirk. ** Shy Guys have occasionally been able to move their masks, but mostly they're only capable of manipulating their mouth-holes. You will rarely find fully expressive Shy Guys. * The Faceless: Shy Guys (and to a lesser extent their Snifit cousins) have only ever been seen with the same three-hole mask since the days of Doki Doki Panic and rely on body language to properly express themselves. They've rarely been seen without their masks, and only by Luigi. In Luigi's Mansion, there are Ghost Guys that manage to be even more faceless by virtue of masks without eyeholes. On the flipside, these ghosts are capable of losing their masks, revealing only a pair of glowing eyes under the hood, which may mean that Shy Guys are literally faceless.note * Fantasy Axis of Evil: Each type and its variants fills a particular niche. * Giant Mook: Giant Land of Super Mario Bros. 3 featured colossal variants of standard Troop members like Koopas and Goombas. Its sequel Super Mario World introduced Big Boos and Banzai Bills, and following games have included more and more. In Super Mario Maker nearly any Troop member can be made giant via the Super Mushroom. We also got giant Waddle Dees. We also can't forget that K. Rool's minions who take the roles of bosses are giant versions of goons. * The Goomba: ** The one and only goombas. ** In lieu of traditional goombas, the Beach Koopas, which are Koopa Troopas without their shells, take the goomba role in Super Mario World. ** We also got the Waddle Dee ** Moto Bugs as well ** Kritters are just literally goomba kritters. * Helpful Mook: Koopa Troopas in various games exist only so Mario can take their shell for his own use. ** Mario Clash had Koopa Troopas as the only enemy that could be defeated by the Goomba Stomp; every other enemy had to be defeated by being hit by the shells that the koopas generously provide Mario. ** In Super Mario 64, Koopa Troopas can't even hurt Mario and run away from him instead; their only purpose was for Mario to take their shell to ride after defeating them. ** Super Mario Galaxy has Koopa Troopas appear in certain boss fights so Mario could defeat them, take their shell and use it as a projectile weapon. ** Kracko spawns ememies that can help out Kirby. He could either copy their powers or spit them back at Kracko. * Hidden Depths: As the Mario RPGs show, a lot of the Koopa Troop members show that the troops are more intelligent than they seem. At least one Dry Bones enjoys table tennis, and even knows of how it first came to be. * Invincible Minor Minion: Lava Bubbles are invincible to everything but stars (and later ice balls). Boos are similar, though in some games they're weak to the light. Gordos and Shotzo are completely incompletely invincible. * Just Following Orders: Bowser's minions very rarely bear any personal grudge against the heroes. They just really like Bowser a lot and follow him out of admiration. They have even cooperated and even allied with Mario and crew on occasion in the RPG and Party games and some become playable in the Sports and Kart games. * King Mook: Many of the enemy races have a powerful ruler with unique powers who reports directly to Bowser, King K. Rool, King Dedede, Eggman and the other villains are including Goomboss (Goombas); Kamek, Kammy Koopa, and Kamella (Magikoopas); Petey Piranha (Piranha Plants); King Bob-omb (Bob-ombs); King Boo (Boos); General Guy (Shy Guys); Poppy Bro Sr (Poppy Brothers); Very Gnawty and Really Gnawty (Gnawties); Bowser himself too (Koopa Troopas). Some races have giant or extremely powerful versions that have "King" in their name, like King Bill (NSMBWii, the Bullet Bill line) and King Kaliente (Super Mario Galaxy, the Octoomba line). * Mascot Mook: ** The Goomba and Koopa Troopa are very much symbols of the series, just as much as Mario himself. ** Shy Guys are the mascots of games with Yoshi as the central protagonist, as well as the international Super Mario Bros. 2. ** Waddles Dees are literally the mascot of the Kirby series besides Kirby himself. * Mecha-Mooks: ** Bullet Bills and Bob-ombs, among others (Mechakoopas, Torpedo Teds, etc.). ** Chomps are also implied to be these. The ones the the Galaxy subseries in particular simply roll in the direction they are moving and are built in factories, with only Silver Chomps being able to move on their own volition. ** Shotzos are literally this. ** Eggman's entire army are just Mecha-Mooks * Mind over Matter: Implied to be how Goombas can grab things despite lacking arms. (Think VeggieTales, basically.) * Monogender Monsters: The Japanese site for 3D Land refers to Pom Pom as the lone female in Bowser's army. This implies that all of his common mooks are male. * Monster Town: Mainly in the Paper Mario games; most Koopas and Goombas are apparently normal homebodies just like the Toads, it's just the ones we see most often are Bowser's foot soldiers. * Monster Clown: Amps are often shown with clown-like faces. * Mooks: Some of gaming's most famous examples. * Morality Pet: In the RPGs, the mooks occasionally function as this to Bowser. He even lets some stay in the Monster Town in Super Mario RPG and forgives those three mooks who tossed him in a safe (while Brainwashed) in Bowser's Inside Story. * Musical Theme Naming: The Boos, who were originally named “Boo” Diddlys, an obvious riff on Bo Diddley. * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Not every member of the species works for Bowser. This is displayed most in the first two Paper Mario games, which have helpful individual minions as your allies, though they also fight their usual mook counterparts. Super Mario Odyssey also shows that Goombas and Koopa Troopas freely hang around the Mushroom Kingdom. Waddle Dees are also an example of this with some even attack Dedede himself. * Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In Japan, Bullet Bills are known as "Killer" and Banzai Bills are called "Magnum Killers." Banzai Bills have also been referred to as Magnum Bills (at least in the cartoons), Piranha Plants as well. * Night of the Living Mooks: ** Many Koopa Troop races have undead counterparts, most notably Dry Bones (skeletal Koopas). ** Don't forget the Boos and their many subtypes and allied ghosts. ** Boolers' are Dedede's own undead mooks. * Non-Indicative Name: Buzzy Beetles are not beetles, and they much less make any buzzing sounds. * Non-Lethal K.O.: ** Several games heavily imply that Mario doesn't actually kill them and they can survive being stomped flat. It's most consistent and explicit with Goombas, Koopas, and Bob-ombs, though the others may vary from game to game. This is a franchise where "Extra Lives" and "Game Over" are canon after all. ** The Koopalings in particular have been melted, exploded, disintegrated, etc., but always turn up fine next time. Same with Petey, King Boo, Kamek, and Bowser himself sometimes. ** King Dedede's mooks are also never exactly die. They have been blowned up, mechanized, flatten and burned but they always come back to life. * Non-Mammalian Hair: Super Mario Odyssey reveals that Hammer and Fire Bros. have hair under their helmets. * No-Sell: Buzzy Beetles are defined by their immunity to fire, giving the player one less avenue to defeat them as they would with the functionally-similar Koopa. * Our Ghosts Are Different: It's never made quite clear what exactly the Boos are. * Perpetual Frowner: The Thwomps tend to be this when their mouths are closed. * Promoted to Playable: Many Mario Spin-off titles allow you to play as a regular enemy. Usual suspects include a Green Koopa Troopa, a red Paratroopa, Dry Bones, Boo and Shy Guy, but others appear in at least one game. Who can also forget Metal Sonic and Bandana Dee? * Pulling Themselves Together: Dry Bones and their subspecies are known for reassembling seconds after an attack causes them to fall apart. * Punch-Clock Villain: ** The Koopa Troop themselves are not The Evil Army, following Bowser out of genuine admiration more than anything other than the idea that they can be promoted over Bowser and boss him around and seem to have no guff with Mario on downtime. The Lakitus are a stand-out example, appearing regularly as friendly camera crews in Mario sports games. ** World 4-5 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii even had blocks that release Lakitus who threw coins instead of Spinies. * Reality Warper: Magikoopas' spells have many different effects on objects, enemies, etc. * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Later designs of Buzzy Beetles have this, and you better take warning since they are flame-resistant. * Removable Shell: Mario can force a Koopa Troopa out of its shell in order to ride it or use it as a weapon. When this happens, the Koopa Troopa is revealed to wear undergarments outside of its shell. * Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Koopas. * Shock and Awe: ** Fizzlits, blob-like purple creatures whose attack pattern is to melt into an electric puddle to try to electrocute Mario. ** The red Thunder Lakitu can launch ball lightning, an ability that first appeared in the Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! anime movie, as a reference to the Shinto god Raijin. * The Spiny: Again, Trope Namer. * Superpowered Mooks: The Super Koopas in Super Mario World and the Tanoombas in the Mario & Luigiseries. There are various Super Leaf and Super Bell-using mooks in 3D Land and 3D World respectively. * Took a Level in Badass: ** Throughout the Mario & Luigi series. They went from being easily beaten and/or brainwashed in the first three games to forming the majority of the lategame enemies of their own will (and all this under Bowser, as opposed to the other games) in Dream Team. ** A defining trait of Octoombas seems to be that they become tougher in each subsequent game they appear in. In Galaxy, their only attack was a close-range antenna whip, making them only slightly more of a threat than a Goomba. In the second game, they have a rock-spitting attack similar to the Octoguys, but with a faster and more direct arc. Elite Octoombas also appear, who spit two rocks in succession. In 3D World, there are only regular Octoombas, but they now spit three cannonballs in succession, and are made immune to all attacks but Ground Pounds. * Turtle Power: The Koopas. * Underground Monkey: ** The blue subterranean Goombas from Super Mario Bros. are one of the first examples. Many, many variants show up, particularly in the RPG spinoffs. ** Bullet Bill comes in a variety of calibres, including the massive Banzai Bill and the underwater Torpedo Ted (both from Super Mario World). ** The Paper Mario games have plenty, including Elite Mook Koopatrols in full plate armour. (with spikes) * Undying Loyalty: Pun aside, Tattles from the first two Paper Mario titles imply that this is literally the case with Dry Bones under the Koopa King. * The Unintelligible: Several spin-off titles show that Dry Bones are only capable of speaking in "clacks", though their actual words are in parentheses for our convenience. Despite this, however, other characters seem to be able to understand them just fine. * You Don't Look Like You: ** The Boos in Super Mario Sunshine are freakin' weird to look at; normal Boos are known for their iconic wicked smiles, while Boos from Isle Delfino all have the same dopey expression and let their tongues loll out. ** All the enemies in Super Mario Sunshine look different from their Mushroom Kingdom counterparts, even Delfino King Boo. According to Encyclopedia Super Mario Bros., the Sunshine variants are actually created by Bowser Jr.'s Graffiti. ** The Goombas in Super Mario World are round instead of mushroom-shaped. The Japanese version actually acknowledges these as a separate species (Kuribon as opposed to the usual Kuribo). In Super Mario 3D World, these round "Goombas" were reintroduced under a new name as Galoombas and they appear alongside normal Goombas, finally confirming them to be a different species. Category:Character pages